Secrets Revealed
by scifislasher
Summary: [SPD] Fourth story in the Wolf Saga and things are beginning to come to a head.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Secrets Revealed

Part 4 of the Wolf Saga

Disclaimer: Not mine, etc, etc.

* * *

"Where _is_ he?" Syd demanded, yet again, and Jack sighed.

"He was over the other side of the city," Bridge pointed out. "Not even Sky could get here that fast."

'Here' was currently a dank alley with an all-pervasive smell, no doubt the main cause of Syd's dislike of the place, not to mention the fact that it was evening when by all rights they should be off duty and doing whatever they wanted. Not that this was anything new for them anymore. A call out had brought them here, but now that they were here they weren't finding anything.

"Bridge, do your thing, see what you can pick up," Jack said, keeping his attention firmly away from the pouting pink ranger. "Might give us a chance to wrap this up early." He knew this alley and it didn't have a good reputation, so he wasn't much happier about being here than Syd was. Still… they'd been called here so they had to at least check it out.

"Jack, call him already. See where he is. The sooner he gets here the sooner we can leave."

Jack rolled his eyes at Syd's tone. She definitely wasn't happy about being here and he wouldn't want to be Sky when he finally did arrive. Syd in a snit was someone to be avoided at all costs.

"Fine, but when he snaps I'm blaming you." He pulled out his communicator as Syd wrinkled her nose at him. "Sky? Where are you?"

There was a moment's pause before Sky's voice came back over the line, as irritated as expected. "I'm almost there."

"Ask him where he is."

"Syd wants to know where you are."

There was an exasperated sigh. "I've turned onto Third and Fifth and I'll be there _faster_ if people didn't keep stopping me to find out where I am."

Mouth twitching, Jack shook his head slightly. "Okay. See you in a couple of minutes."

"Sure. Just give me a few--"

Sky's voice was cut off by the sound of a loud blast, then there was nothing.

"Sky? Sky, you there? Sky!"

Nothing.

"Okay, Bridge did you get anything?"

"No. Looks like a prank call or something."

"Fine, we're out of here. Third and Fifth, **now**."

Arriving at Third and Fifth five minutes later revealed Sky's bike by the pavement, on its side, one side-mirror hanging off. There was no sign of Sky anywhere, not even his bike helmet.

"Okay, Bridge, you go that way," Jack said, pointing left. "Syd and Z, you go that way." Right. "I'll check round here and if you find anything, call it in."

With the rest of his team going in their respective directions Jack took another look around. He couldn't put his finger on why but he was sure Sky was here, somewhere. All he had to do was find him. A faint gleam in the dusky light caught his attention and he made his way over to it quickly. His heart sank when he recognised the SPD badge: Sky's jacket. A quick search turned up the rest of Sky's uniform, plus helmet, all of it ripped in different places. Jack bit his lip as it sank in that Sky had probably had to Change, very, very quickly, and that was a bad sign.

Still, now that he knew Sky had Changed that gave him something to work with. Too bad he couldn't call the others and tell them to look out for a blond wolf. Again he cursed Sky's stubbornness in not telling them, this search would be so much easier if the others knew to look out for Sky in both shapes. He sighed in resignation. Well, they didn't know and that was all there was to it.

About to follow Bridge's direction, Jack took one last long look around the area and was about to leave when he caught sight of something sticking out from behind a box. A blond something. Heart in his stomach he ran over and pulled the box out. Sure enough, Sky was behind it, Changed and unconscious, although not from any injury Jack could see.

Flipping open his communicator with one hand, the other resting on Sky's side, Jack called the first person he could think of. "Kat? We have a problem."

* * *

Morgana walked into the main room of Gruumm's ship, head held high, triumphant smile on her face.

"Well, Morgana? Was the experiment a success?"

"Oh yes," she replied with a smile. "Not as human as he seems, the blue ranger."

"Good," Gruumm replied in satisfaction. "Let's see how you deal with _this_, rangers.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Jack slouched in his chair, eyes never leaving the unconscious form on the bed. He didn't know what had happened to Sky, and he probably wouldn't until his friend woke up, but whatever it was it couldn't have been good - Sky was very hard to catch off guard. At least he was human again, that was something. He wasn't looking forward to the next time he saw the others, no doubt they wouldn't be happy about him apparently just taking off in the middle of the search. Oh well, he'd just have to face the music the next time he saw them.

"I didn't know this part of the infirmary was here."

He spun round in shock at the sound of Syd's voice and he froze at the sight of the rest of B squad standing in the doorway, looking around in surprise and curiosity. _Oh shit_, was the first thing that came to mind. There was no way he was getting out of this one.

"Jack? What are you doing here?" Z asked in confusion before her eyes took in Sky lying on the bed. "Sky? Why didn't you tell us you found him?"

"Is he okay?" Syd asked before, "You couldn't have called?" her concern making her short-tempered. "You didn't think that maybe we'd want to know that you'd found Sky?"

"I was a little distracted at the time," Jack replied mildly, which did not go down well.

"Too distracted to call us?" Syd demanded. "It only takes a minute, you know. And besides, you knew about all this, didn't you? You had to have, considering you were already here," she continued, her voice rising sharply as she gestured around the hidden part of the infirmary, and Jack risked a quick look at Sky, not answering. He winced inwardly at the sudden distress on Sky's face and hoped it wasn't related to Syd's rise in volume. "Jack, what's going on?"

"Princess has a point," Z said, ignoring the glare her roommate levelled at her for the much-disliked nickname. "Whatever's going on, you know about it. Spill."

Jack hesitated and wished Kat was in the room. At least she'd be able to effectively get rid of them, unlike him, Z in particular having no qualms about ignoring him when she thought he was being an idiot. Times like now, probably. Bridge, however, had remained notably silent.

"You can't keep this from us forever," Syd said. "Sooner or later we're going to find out. Stop hiding things from us."

_Not my secret, Syd_. "I can't tell you."

"What?" Syd demanded. "Why not?"

"Because."

"Because? That's the best you can do?"

Jack glanced at Sky again and felt his heart sink as Sky shifted restlessly on the bed. "Syd, tone it down a little." Syd opened her mouth but Jack pre-empted her. "I mean it, Syd. Back off."

"Don't tell me what to do, Jack Landors, I will not--"

The rest of Syd's sentence was cut off when the pink ranger was sent flying to the floor under Sky's weight, the wolf pinning her down. Anticipating the inevitable reaction, Jack dropped to his haunches and slapped his hand over Syd's mouth. "Don't scream, Syd." Syd turned terrified blue eyes on him while both Z and Bridge stared in stunned horror. "Relax a little, okay? He won't hurt you."

He took his hand away as Syd forced her body to relax slightly, not an easy task considering she had a growling wolf sitting on top of her and turned his attention to Sky. "Sky, back off, she wasn't trying to upset you." He ignored the expressions on the faces of the rest of his team, all that mattered right now was calming Sky down. "I mean it." Sky growled at him and he glared back. "Snarl at me all you like, but back off."

There was a moment of tense silence as the two stared at each other, both refusing to back down. Jack heaved a silent sigh of relief when Sky moved away and stalked off behind the bed. "You okay?" he asked Syd as she sat up, face pale and shaking a little. She nodded jerkily and he squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. Satisfied that everything was alright for the moment, with Bridge and Z kneeling down by the pink ranger, ascertaining for themselves that she was okay, he went after Sky and was relieved all over again to find that Sky had switched back to human. He cautiously reached out to the crouched figure on the floor. "Hey, you alright?"

Sky lifted his head to Jack's, blue eyes confused. "Jack?"

"Yeah. You okay?"

"I… I don't…" Sky shook his head. "I think so."

"Good, 'cause you owe Syd an apology."

Sky didn't seem to hear him and Jack inwardly cursed whatever had happened that left Sky so out of it, the blue ranger was usually so much more alert than this and he knew for a fact that switching shapes _never_ left Sky disoriented. If anything Sky was _more_ alert, his senses sharper. It was then he realised that Sky was staring at him, still staring at him, rather. He held still as Sky slowly reached forward and gently ran his thumb over Jack's mouth, unsure of why he was letting it happen, just knowing it was important that he did. He ignored the way his heart sped up at the light touch, quashing the butterflies in his stomach firmly.

"Pack," Sky whispered, eyes a little more focused now.

Jack smiled slightly, uncertain as to whether he was disappointed that that was all the touch had apparently meant or not. "Yeah, I guess so."

The moment held a bit longer, then Sky was pulling back and looking around with a bit more alertness than he'd previously displayed. "Clothes?"

Jack sighed melodramatically as he stood and grabbed the spare uniform out the cupboard. "Jeez, Sky, what am I, your personal gopher?"

Sky just grinned tiredly instead of firing straight back with some smart ass comment like he usually did, before pulling the blue shirt over his head. Jack stood up, allowing Sky his privacy, and shook his head at the remains of the pyjamas Sky _had_ been wearing. "You're lucky Kat keeps spare clothes here for you, you know," he commented idly as he bundled them up and tossed them in the bin, steadfastly not looking at the remainder of his team. "I'm surprised she doesn't charge you for them, if you go through them like this."

His only response was a soft snort, then Sky was standing up, rolling his neck to loosen the muscles and shaking out the rest of the kinks. "Right, like you've never ripped a shirt or two. And that doesn't include whatever it is you call fashion."

Jack grinned, too relieved that Sky was slowly but surely returning to normal to be annoyed over the slight insult, and he took it in the spirit it was meant. "Some of us have taste, that's why, and don't wear things that wouldn't be out of place in the 1950s. And it was only one shirt."

Sky just smirked as he moved out from behind the bed. "Whatever, Jack," he said. "You know what they say about denial." The smirk disappeared as Sky grabbed for the bed, his balance deserting him. Jack started forward automatically, but Sky had righted himself without his help and was leaning back against the bed, hands gripping the edge tightly.

"Sky?"

"I'm alright," the blue ranger grated, his grip on the bed tightening.

About to contradict the patently false statement, Jack was treated to one of Sky's most fearsome glares and shut his mouth with a snap. Sky didn't appreciate being coddled, a sentiment Jack shared most of the time. The only problem was that Sky had the unfortunate habit of seeing even the smallest bit of concern as coddling, which often made it difficult to help him.

A minute or so later, Sky's death grip on the bed relaxed and his eyes fluttered closed for a moment as he reoriented himself. When the blue eyes opened again, Jack took that as his cue to start trying to piece together what had happened back on Third and Fifth. It was something they desperately needed to know. If someone had figured out what Sky was, they were in trouble. And if said person had some new way to take Sky out, they were in even more trouble. "Sky? I know you probably don't want to talk about this right now, but we need to know what happened back there." He didn't add, _If you're up to it_.

Sky looked over at him, eyes still slightly unfocused, but the blue ranger's mind seemed sharp enough, as he nodded once. "I know. I don't really remember much, though. It's all…" he waved his hand slightly, an unconscious mimicking of Jack's mannerisms that made the red ranger smile inwardly, "blurry."

"Start with what you do remember then." Jack crossed his arms, leaning against the bed. The challenging stance was intentional. Pushing Sky's buttons would force him to focus more and that, hopefully, would be enough to drag him out of this still somewhat vague state. He deliberately ignored the rest of his teammates, figuring that they'd pick up enough to satisfy their curiosity and reassure themselves that Sky was still Sky, not some wild animal to be afraid of.

Sky's eyes narrowed at him a little, but let the challenge go unremarked upon. "I was coming to meet you guys, I turned the corner onto Third Avenue and then…" he shrugged, helpless frustration on his face. "I don't remember anything after that."

"Sure?" Jack asked.

"No, Jack, I'm making this up for my own amusement, because I enjoy getting knocked out so very much, how about you?" Sky snapped and Jack held up his hands in surrender.

"Okay, if you're sure." He had experience enough of Sky's mood swings after a Change that he knew not to push it, and that given time Sky's temperament would even off again.

"I am."

"Okay. Just… you know, if you remember anything later, fill me in, alright?"

Sky stared at him for a moment, then nodded, mollified by Jack's acquiescence. Jack smiled inwardly to himself. How had they never noticed before how, well, canine, Sky could be? The unwavering loyalty; the bad reactions to being challenged, especially by someone equally as strong minded as himself. His eyebrows mentally rose as he thought maybe they were balanced by his feline tendencies: his fastidiousness, his contrariness, his tendency to lash out when threatened, his liquid grace when he moved… He shook his head in annoyance, such fanciful thoughts wouldn't get him anywhere, and they most definitely wouldn't help Sky.

His attention was drawn back to the present when he heard Syd's voice, and he glanced over to find the pink ranger standing in front of Sky, hands firmly on her hips, every inch of her petite frame radiating confrontation. _Uh oh_, he thought as he took in the scene. He could get away with pulling that act, he wasn't so sure about Syd, not after Sky's reaction to her a few minutes ago. Apparently though, Syd had recovered from her initial fear and was moving on to demanding answers.

"Why didn't you tell us?" she was demanding, folding her arms and glaring. "I mean, would it really have been so hard to say 'Oh, by the way, I can turn into a wolf?'"

"Syd--"

"Three years, Sky, that's how long we've known each other and you couldn't find one moment to tell us about this?" She'd started moving now, stalking Sky around the room, backing the blue ranger into a corner. About to jump in, Jack realised that Sky didn't seem about to freak out and, satisfied on that score, he simply grinned and sat back to watch the show. It wasn't often you saw Sky on the back-foot after all.

"Syd--" Sky tried again.

"You keep way too many things to yourself, Sky," the pink ranger continued, now jabbing her finger into Sky's chest. "So you better start talking. Right now."

Jack couldn't take anymore, the slightly outraged expression on Sky's face - balanced out by the perfectly natural apprehension anyone with sense wore when Syd got going on one of her rants - as he backed away from her was just too funny for words and he burst out laughing. Sky turned his attention away from Hurricane Syd and glared at him. "Sorry," he said, "it's just… the big bad werewolf backing away from the tiny blonde, no offence Syd," he added quickly as Syd added her glare to Sky's before turning back to her original target.

"What did you think we were going to do, Sky? Throw you out our lives?"

Sky paled slightly and could no longer meet her eyes. Syd's outrage vanished the moment she saw that, the fight going out of her. "You did," she said softly. "You really thought that." She impulsively threw her arms round him, hugging him tightly. "Idiot," she scolded quietly. "We love you, we wouldn't do that to you."

Sky tightened his arms around her reflexively. "I'm sorry I jumped on you," he said into her hair and she laughed a little breathlessly.

"Forgiven, just don't do it again. And I quite like breathing, Sky."

Sky let go quickly. "Sorry," he said again, trying to retreat behind one of his unreadable masks before giving that up as a lost cause.

"So," Z said finally, breaking the somewhat uncomfortable silence that had fallen. "Werewolf huh?"

Sky half-smiled. "Yeah, seems that way."

"How long have you--?" Z trailed off as she realised that might be a question Sky wasn't comfortable answering.

"Almost five years, now."

"Wow, that's a long time."

Sky shrugged. "Not really."

Z wrinkled her nose at him before turning abruptly to Jack. "You knew about this," she said accusingly.

Jack started a little as all the attention in the room suddenly focused on him. "What?" he said, cleverly.

"You knew about this," Z repeated. "About Sky being a werewolf." She paused, taking in the weirdness of the sentence, before shaking it off. "You knew," she repeated.

"Yeah, I knew. Found out about six months ago. How isn't important," he continued, before the others could ask, "just that I did. And before you start asking why I didn't tell you, firstly because Sky asked me not to, you can probably figure out why." Sky shrugged again, looking faintly sheepish. "And secondly because the Commander ordered me not to, not that he had to. I wouldn't have said anything even I hadn't been given that order." That last part being directed straight at Sky, who smiled a little in response.

"I know."

"So that's why you didn't call us when you found Sky?" Bridge asked. "Because you couldn't explain what was going on?"

Jack nodded.

"Everything okay in here?" Kat asked as she walked into the room, looking around the room cautiously. "I see you finally found this place," she added to Bridge, Syd and Z.

"Kat, you knew about this?"

The feline scientist smiled. "Of course I did. Who better?"

Z nodded, conceding the point. Kat knew their DNA better than anyone and that combined with this… whatever _this_ was, with Sky meant she would be the best person to go to when necessary. As Kat made her way over to Sky, turning his head this way and that, probably searching for any tender spots or evidence of a concussion or something, Z studied the blue ranger carefully. This explained a lot about Sky, but she couldn't help feeling uneasy and she hated that. She knew what it was like to be so different, to have people afraid of her because of what she was and hiding that fear behind taunts and other cruel behaviour, but still she couldn't shake her unease over this. Sky wasn't human, he was something else that looked human but wasn't, not beneath the surface.

She struggled with the direction her thoughts were going in because this was _Sky_ after all, the solid rock of the team, always there with his shields, their strongest fighter. She'd lost count of the number of times Sky had stood between at least one of them and danger, herself included, and despite his early hostility, he'd never given her any reason not to trust him after she started letting herself trust someone other than Jack or herself. He was no different now than he had been this morning, before she found out about all this: he looked the same, sounded the same, acted the same. Why was this so hard for her to deal with?

Feeling eyes on her she glanced up, half expecting it to be Jack or Sky, but they were both occupied, Sky with insisting he was fine and Jack watching Sky with concerned eyes. He obviously didn't have a problem with this, but then again, he'd had more time to adjust. But if it wasn't those two… a glance to her left revealed Bridge studying her with a sad expression on his usually cheerful face and she flushed. She didn't need to be psychic to know that Bridge had sensed the direction of her thoughts or that he was disappointed by them. Well, it wasn't as if _she_ liked them either. Was it so wrong that this would take time to get used to?

* * *

Edward Blake studied the contents of the car boot in satisfaction, that would do nicely. He had a lead on a wolf that practically begged to be taken down and after that… it was back to New Tech City. He had a score to settle there that wouldn't wait much longer. He reached forward and ran his fingers over a long bladed knife, for one moment letting himself imagine the feel of sliding it between the wolf's ribs, the eyes slowly going dull and lifeless. That particular wolf haunted his dreams, twice now he'd managed to evade his fate, but third time was the charm. And _this_ time the human lover wouldn't get in the way, although he had a score to settle _there_ too. He briefly ran a finger across his nose, newly mended from the break. Well, see how they liked it when he returned the favour. With interest. No one stood in his way and got away with it. Not for long. 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Syd stood over her jewellery box, sorting everything out into two piles - silver and not-silver - and focused as she was, she didn't hear the quiet knock on her door, nor did she hear Z inviting Sky in.

"Watcha doing?" came the voice at her ear and she jumped, the necklace she'd been holding falling out of her hands. She turned and found Sky smirking at her.

"Don't do that!" she snapped. "Were you always this quiet?"

The smirk turned into a grin. "Usually. Z invited me in, in case you were wondering," he added as she stared at him. "And you didn't answer my question."

She blinked a little. "Oh, I was just sorting out some stuff."

"You don't have to get rid of it because of me, you know," Sky said.

"I'm not," she replied defensively, subconsciously edging in front of the jewellery box and the piles on the table. Sky stepped round her, examining what was there. "I don't really wear any of it anymore so I might as well get rid of it," she continued. "Don't touch that!" she yelped as Sky reached out to the pieces of jewellery on the table, pushing him into the wall and out the way before he could come into contact with it.

Blushing a little as she stepped back, Syd tossed her head, defying Sky or Z to say anything about her reaction.

"It wasn't silver, Syd," Sky said gently. "Believe me, I wouldn't be touching it if it was." He smiled slightly. "Contrary to popular opinion, I don't like pain."

Syd rolled her eyes at him, then returned her attention to her jewellery box, putting the not-silver back in and carefully sorting the silver into small boxes to be sent back to her parents' house. Sky might say she didn't have to get rid of it, but she wasn't taking any chances. After Kat had given them a quick debriefing she'd put two and two together about the burn on Sky's hand a couple of months back, back when Jack had gotten himself possessed. Silver had done that and she wasn't about to leave any where Sky would come into contact with it, not even tiny stud earrings. 

* * *

Z had slipped out the room while Syd and Sky were distracted and she found herself heading for the wood on the edge of town. That wasn't really a surprise, it was her retreat of choice when she needed to clear her head, and right now she had a _lot_ to clear up. Syd was taking this well, even going so far as to sort out her jewellery so she didn't accidentally wear anything that could potentially hurt Sky. She'd also packed up some of her heavier perfumes in case they overloaded Sky's senses, not that she wore them all that often anyway.

Z sighed as she walked. Why was she the only one having problems with this? Jack was fine with it, Syd was fine with it, Bridge was fine with it. Why couldn't she be fine with it as well?

* * *

Blake returned his equipment to the boot of his car, his body still thrumming with the thrill of the chase and the kill. The wolf had put up a good fight, but in the end had been no match for the experienced werewolf hunter. Now for New Tech City.

"You're very impressive."

Blake whirled round, his gun aimed squarely at the head of the woman who'd spoken. Tall, with long black hair, she was beautiful, in a dangerous kind of way, just how he liked his women. Long black dress, black boots and a purple tattoo under one eye completed the look and what a look it was. Still, he wasn't naïve anymore. She'd managed to get behind him without him even noticing and it was evident that she wasn't put off by the gun aimed at her. Oh yes, definitely dangerous. Not one to be messed with.

"Who are you?" he demanded, his aim never wavering. If the lady was after trouble she'd picked the wrong guy to play with.

"Who I am isn't important," she said, voice and smile holding a seductive edge, and if she was disgusted by the ruins of his face she didn't show it. "What _is_ important is a proposition I have for you."

"I'm not interested in your propositions," he growled, but the smile grew a little.

"Oh, I think you'll be interested in this one. It seems we have an annoyance in common; a werewolf belonging to SPD that goes by the name of Sky Tate."

Blake tensed a little, his lip curling in a snarl before he was even aware of it. "Tate," he spat, the name a poison on his tongue.

"I take it you know who I'm referring to," the woman purred, clearly pleased by his reaction.

"He's the one who did _this_," Blake growled, gesturing at the scars crossing his face.

"So… no doubt you'd like a chance to even the score?"

"Oh I would. But I don't need you to do that."

The woman laughed. "Oh, but you do. You see, this annoyance… he has friends, friends who are just as much of an annoyance as he is, and they're very protective of each other, as I'm sure you know."

Brown eyes and black, dread-locked hair flashed into Blake's mind and he gritted his teeth. He was well aware of how protective _that_ one was.

"Exactly my point," continued his unexpected visitor smoothly, as if she'd guessed the content of his thoughts. "Imagine another three of them, just as protective. I can help you."

"_If_ I let you help, what do you get out of it?" Because there was no way she wasn't after _something_.

She smiled. "Nothing from you, don't worry. For now, the elimination of the people I spoke of is enough."

He lowered the gun. "Lady, you got yourself a deal."

* * *

Sky closed his communicator and wished he was on his bike. He didn't mind walking his patrols, but he preferred riding. Unfortunately his bike was still being repaired from whatever had blasted him a couple of days before. Between zord maintenance and base upgrades, a patrol bike wasn't exactly high priority, which meant he was left patrolling on foot. Still, his patrol was over now and that meant he could return to base and crash.

The blow to the back of his head came as a complete surprise and he landed hard on the floor, his head spinning. His vision blurring, he tried to concentrate on focusing when a face came into his line of sight.

"Hello, wolf," the face said with a malicious smile. "Long time no see."

That voice… oh crap. One of the hunters who'd come after him before. The one that had gotten away from Jack. Oh he was in so much trouble.

* * *

Blake smiled with satisfaction at having the wolf at his feet, finally. Now all he had to do was…

"Not yet." The woman who'd brought him into this, Morgana, reached out a hand to stop him. "He's yours as I promised, but not yet. My associates and I have some other plans for him." She walked over to the unconscious heap on the floor and kicked away the small black communication device on the wolf's hip. "There, much better. Don't want to give that psychic any help in finding his friend."

"Want me to destroy it?"

"Can you do it without drawing attention?"

"Naturally."

Retrieving a silencer from his car, Blake aimed and fired, blowing the small device to bits. Morgana simply smiled, like a cat who'd got the cream.

"Good. Now let's go." 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

"_Rangers to the control room."_

Kat's voice came over the comm. system and Jack groaned. His hours in the control room had finished not that long ago and it was the last place he wanted to be right now. Getting to his feet reluctantly, he made his way back, wondering what the hell was going on now. On arrival he found Bridge and the girls already there and both Kat and the Commander were studying a map of the city.

"Where's Sky?" he asked. It wasn't like his second in command to be the last one to the control room, unless he was off base that is, and as he knew for a fact that Sky's patrol was over, being in the control room when his 2IC checked in, he should be here.

Kat looked up at him. "That's the problem. Sky called in when his patrol was over but he didn't return to base."

Jack went cold all over. "He's missing?"

Kat nodded. "He's not answering his communicator and I'm having trouble locating his morpher's signal."

"What do you want us to do?"

"Retrace his route," the Commander replied promptly. "Starting from his last known location; sector five, zone four, Phillips Street. When we have something more, we'll let you know."

Jack nodded and saluted. "Come on," he said to the others. "Let's go."

* * *

Arriving at Phillips Street the team split up, scouting round for any trace of Sky. This was ridiculous, Jack thought in frustration. And it was getting old. This was the second time in two days they'd had to go looking for Sky and if it was a repeat of the last time he was going to give Sky the lecture of his life on watching his back.

"Over here," Z said, crouching by some small hardy weeds growing through the pavement. At her side in a moment, Jack took in the metal and plastic shards on the floor and felt his hands clench into fists all by themselves. It looked like they'd found Sky's morpher.

"Bridge, can you do anything with this?" he asked, hoping he didn't sound as upset as he felt.

"I can try," Bridge replied, glove coming off before he picked up the biggest shard he could find. Jack tried not to pace as Bridge concentrated, but it was hard not to try and hurry things along, despite knowing that doing so would only make things harder. Bridge's eyes snapped open.

* * *

"Uh oh."

"What? Bridge, what is it?" Jack demanded

Bridge looked at him seriously. "Morgana."

Z hissed under her breath at that. Talk about not surprising.

"And someone else," the green ranger continued. "Not someone I recognise."

"Details, Bridge. Give us something to work with."

She glanced at Jack in concern, it wasn't like him to be so sharp.

"A man. Caucasian, dark brown hair: short, close cropped. About 5'9." Bridge paused. "He has a lot of scars on his face and it looks like he had his nose broken at some point."

"Shit," Jack hissed under his breath and Z stared at him in surprise. It was rare to hear Jack swear about anything, at least out loud.

"What, you know the guy?"

"We've met." Jack's voice was cold and his expression was as closed as Sky's usually was. "Bridge, was he with Morgana or did they just happen to be at the same place, same time?"

"Together. Definitely together."

"Double shit." Jack took a deep breath, then pulled himself together. "Okay, see if you can pick up anything else while we check things out the old fashioned way."

* * *

Their return to base was a depressed one. Not only had it been confirmed that Morgana had Sky, which meant that _Gruumm_ had Sky, it was also obvious that they now knew what Sky was, although how that had happened, Z had no idea. The rest of the team had only just found out as it was. _How had Gruumm and Morgana found out?_

Her stomach churning unpleasantly with Sky being missing, she wasn't helped by Jack's agitation. Over the past few months Jack and Sky had been getting along a lot better, even though they still argued at the drop of a hat, and they'd become a lot closer than anyone, themselves included probably, would ever have guessed. That there was an attraction there was obvious to anyone with eyes, except perhaps Jack and Sky themselves, and up until now the connection between the two of them had never worried her. It did now, with Jack so agitated and on edge.

"Bridge, bring up the ID program, we need a composite of this guy and we need it now."

She and Syd watched silently as Bridge and Jack together pieced together a composite image of what the guy with Morgana had looked like, the hologram slowly becoming more solid and recognisably human.

"That's it," Jack said, after about twenty minutes of adjustments. "Bridge, run it through as many databases as you can hack into. If he has so much as a parking ticket I want to know about it."

Bridge nodded. "On it."

As Jack stalked out the room Z exchanged glances with Syd, then stood up and went after her brother.

* * *

Sky opened his eyes slowly, frowning when he didn't automatically recognise his surroundings. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dim lighting and a moment longer to realise he was in a cage, his wrists cuffed to the sides by something slimy but tight. His jacket was gone, leaving him in just his thin blue shirt, at the mercy of the cool temperature of the room. On his knees, he couldn't even sit down properly and there was something tight round his neck, tight and just as slimy as whatever was holding his wrists to the cage. Realising that he was well and truly caught, the panic flooded through him and he jerked hard against his restraints before they tightened even further around him, cutting off the blood supply in his wrists and the oxygen supply at his throat, causing him to black out.

When he came to again, it was to find himself staring at a pair of battered black boots.

"Hello again, wolf. How do you like my new toys?"

* * *

Z followed Jack to the rec. room where she found him pacing back and forth, hands clenching and relaxing at his sides as he paced. His expression blank, Z's concern rocketed. Jack had only ever gotten this blank once before and she didn't like the implications.

"Jack, what's going on?" she asked quietly. "How do you know this guy?"

Jack glanced over at her, his eyes dark and unreadable. "Remember a couple of months back, when I got all possessed or whatever?"

Z nodded silently. The less she had to think about that the happier she'd be.

"Well, Cruger put me and Sky on a lot of patrols together after that, to get us used to being around each other and getting comfortable round each other again, you know? We were on one when I met this guy, him and two others." There was a pause as Jack took a deep breath and forced himself to keep going. "They wanted Sky dead and they wouldn't have thought twice about doing it. Sky wasn't human to them, he was just a, a _thing_, nothing more."

Z was extremely thankful that Jack wasn't looking at her at that particular moment, because she didn't want to have to explain the shame she knew would be covering her expression. The attitude Jack was talking about hit a little too close to home and the realisation made her feel slightly sick. She didn't want to be like those people.

"This guy with Morgana," Jack continued. "He was the worst of the lot. The other two would probably just have killed Sky straight out, but him? He wanted to make Sky hurt, he would have drawn it out as long as he could and then some. And now he has the chance to do just that," he finished, voice barely above a whisper.

Z stood frozen for a minute. She'd never seen Jack look so… defeated. It was as if he'd given up before they'd even started.

"He's not going to kill Sky," she said firmly.

"Not straight away, no," Jack agreed. "But by the time he does there won't be anything of Sky left."

"Don't tell me you're giving up," Z grated. "Don't you dare. We've barely started the search, Jack, you can't give up."

The hoped-for denial never came and Jack just looked at her, expression lost and beaten down. "We won't find him," he said quietly. "We have no clue where to look and by the time we do, it'll be too late. Time's running out."

* * *

Sky gritted his teeth as the electricity or whatever it was slammed through his body again, the scar-faced man determined to make him scream. Unfortunately his resolve not to give in couldn't hold up against the pain surging through him, and in the end screaming was all he could do. 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Z slapped Jack's face hard, leaving her brother staring at her in shock. "Don't you dare say that!" she hissed. "We found our family here whether we expected it or not and I am not going to let you give up on that."

"You did."

The words were quiet, but they hit home hard anyway. So, Jack _had_ known she was having trouble dealing. She'd hoped he hadn't. "I know, and I was wrong. I'm trying to make up for that now, and I'm not going to let you get all defeatist on me before I have a chance to fix things."

"I can't lose him, Z." Jack's expression was completely open now and it displayed a vulnerability that she'd only seen on a couple of occasions. "If Sky's gone I… I don't think I could handle that." It was the closest Z had heard him come to admitting there was something between him and Sky, something so big, so important, that it was too difficult to deal with, especially at times like this.

"You won't. _We_ won't. Gruumm wants Sky for something and sooner or later we'll find out what. Until then we keep looking. And we don't stop. You hear me?"

Jack met her gaze and smiled faintly, some of the tension draining out of him as he straightened with a new resolve. "I hear you." He rested his forehead against hers briefly and she squeezed his hands tightly in reassurance. "Thanks for the pep talk."

She smiled. "You're welcome." She stepped back and held out a hand, palm down. "To finding Sky."

Jack grinned a little, then placed his hand on top of hers. "And kicking the ass of the people who took him."

Shaking on it, they were oblivious to Bridge and Syd standing in the doorway. "Are we interrupting anything?"

* * *

"So," Syd said casually as she and Z went over the pitiful amount of information the ID search had thrown up. "You and Jack looked pretty close back there."

Z looked at her steadily. "You'd better not be suggesting what I think you are."

Syd shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm not suggesting anything. Just saying that the two of you looked close."

"Jack's like my brother, okay? He is quite possibly the last person I would want to date."

"Okay," Syd replied, eyes fixed on the paper in front of her.

Z paused. "Do you have a thing for Jack?"

Syd looked up in surprise. "No!" she yelped. "Why would you think that?"

Z shrugged in her turn. "You seemed to want to know what was 'going on' back in the rec. room, that's all."

"I don't have a thing for Jack."

"Good."

Syd frowned. "What? Why is that good? I thought you weren't interested in Jack that way."

Z scowled back at her roommate. "I'm not. It's just that the only person Jack has eyes for at the moment happens to be six foot plus with brown-blond hair and who currently happens to be missing. Nobody else stands a chance."

"Well, duh, I have eyes," Syd snapped. "It doesn't take a genius to work it out, you know. Not with the way Jack keeps checking out Sky's ass when he thinks no-one's looking."

Z smirked. "Yeah, Jack's not as subtle as he thinks he is. So if you know about that, why were you asking about _me_ and Jack?"

"Because Bridge seemed a little down about it, so I thought--" Syd broke off. "I didn't say that."

"What? Bridge thinks me and Jack are--?"

"I didn't say anything."

* * *

Sky fought hard against the urge to Change. That was what _they_ wanted and he wasn't going to give in to them. Another surge of blistering pain wracked his body and he jerked in response, feeling the Change coming over him anyway, his fingers growing longer and merging together, his teeth elongating into fangs as the fur sprouted across his skin.

The grips holding him loosened as his body shifted shapes but he had no opportunity to do anything as his body was still overloaded by pain. Trying to stand, his paws gave way and he stumbled back to the floor, sitting down hard. While he was disoriented he didn't notice the footsteps coming closer and it was only after the slow burn imprinted itself on his brain that he realised he was now wearing a silver collar. A quiet whimper escaped from him, despite his best efforts, and he scrabbled at his neck in an attempt to get it off.

A dark laugh to the side caught his attention and he stared out of increasingly blurred vision at the skeletal figure standing not that far away. His hackles rose instinctively at the sight, because while his mind wasn't functioning enough to put a name to the figure, he was more than well aware that it wasn't friendly.

"Yes, this is good. Very good. Come with me, blue ranger. There are some people you should meet."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

"Are we sure this is the place?" Jack asked sceptically as they stared around the deserted industrial park.

"That's what Kat said," Bridge replied, turning round slowly, his morpher in search mode. "Massive energy spike."

Jack sighed. "We don't need this right now. We need to be looking for Sky." The past couple of days hadn't turned up anything and he was getting more and more frustrated and desperate as the time passed.

"I think we just did."

"What?" Jack spun round to find Bridge staring wide eyed at a blond wolf standing in one of the empty doorways, low growl rumbling in its throat. "Sky?" he asked cautiously. "You okay?"

The wolf's mouth curled up in a snarl and launched itself at Jack, the red ranger only just managing to phase out as the jaws snapped shut. "Sky, what's wrong with you?"

"He's not your Sky anymore," came the taunting voice from behind him and again Jack swung round, this time coming face to face with a smug Morgana and a self-satisfied Edward Blake.

"What do you think of the wolf now?" Blake asked smugly and Jack fought back the urge to rip the man apart piece by piece. Slowly.

"What do you think of your new nose?" he shot back and he took a great deal of satisfaction from the smile dropping off the man's face.

"I haven't thanked you properly for it yet," Blake grated, his hand straying to the knife strapped to his thigh. "But now's a good a time as any."

Jack slid into a defensive stance, trusting to his squad to keep Sky occupied until they could figure out what had happened and how they could reverse it. The hunter lashed out at him and he blocked reflexively, his worry for Sky retreating to the back of his mind, replaced by an ice cold anger and the determination that _this_ time Blake was going down for good.

"He won't stop, you know," the hunter whispered in his ear as Jack only just managed to block the knife thrust aimed at his stomach, his wrist gripping that of the other man. "Nothing will stop him except killing him. And if you don't kill him, he'll kill you. All of you."

"No, he won't," Jack grated back. "We'll get him back and nothing you or anyone else can do will stop us."

"Enough talk!" Morgana snapped from the sidelines, where she'd been watching in amusement. "Edward, we've done what we came to do. Let's leave them to their former friend's mercy, shall we?"

Blake scowled, then backed off reluctantly until he was standing next to the sorceress.

"Running Blake?" Jack taunted. "I never had you pegged as a coward."

The werewolf hunter lunged forward, but Morgana caught hold of his arm and the two disappeared. Jack swallowed against the hot surge of disappointment as Blake got away again, the taste of it bitter ash at the back of his throat, then felt himself going down, hitting the ground hard as the rest of his squad screamed warnings at him.

Rolling away in the small amount of space he had, it was to find Sky standing over him, teeth bared in a feral snarl and Jack's eyes widened in stunned shock. "Sky, it's me, okay? Jack." Nothing. There was no recognition in the blue eyes that never wavered from him and the snarl didn't falter either. "Sky, this isn't you, you have to fight it. Come on." Again, there was nothing, and now Sky's muzzle was bare millimetres from Jack's face and the red ranger swallowed convulsively. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to phase out fast enough with Sky this close.

It was then that the faint sparkle at the corner of his eye registered and everything began to fall into place. Silver. No wonder Sky was so crazy, that much silver had to be driving him mad. Slowly he lifted his right hand, then froze at the growl his movement prompted. "It's okay," he whispered. "I'm not going to hurt you." Hesitantly he moved his hand again, only to be stopped by another growl. "Does that hurt, the collar? All that silver's got to be crazy-making." For the first time Sky seemed to waver and Jack breathed a silent sigh of relief. "I can take it off. If you'll let me."

There was no reaction and after a moment Jack realised that Sky was essentially giving him permission. His fingers brushing softly against Sky's fur, Jack took careful hold of the collar, accidentally bringing it into closer contact with Sky's skin and there was a sharp whine as he did so. "Sorry," he whispered. "Sorry. Just a little more, okay? Hold still." His fingers wrapping round the metal band, he forced himself to concentrate. He didn't want to make any mistakes at such a crucial point. Feeling the familiar surge he felt when he phased through something, he let out a faint gasp of relief and threw the collar as far away from him as he could.

The moment the collar came off, Sky collapsed against him, almost knocking the wind out of him. Wolf or human it didn't matter, Sky still weighed a ton, something about conservation of body mass according to Kat, but that was little consolation when Sky was lying on top of you, although Jack couldn't help but think that there were a few situations where he wouldn't mind Sky lying on him at all.

Unfortunately for his peace of mind, Sky chose that particular moment to Change back to human, whether by choice or instinct Jack wasn't sure, which meant that he now had a naked Sky lying on top of him and there was really nothing he could do about it.

* * *

Z flushed slightly and averted her eyes as Sky Changed back to human. She'd forgotten that the switch back usually involved a distinct lack of clothes.

"Z, fetch me the case from the boot of the car," Jack said, fingers snapping in her direction, his eyes never leaving Sky. With Bridge and Syd keeping guard, she quickly made her way to their squad car and flipped open the boot, grabbing the case that was in there and only sparing a moment to blink at the spare blue uniform folded next to it in a neat pile, before she made her way back.

The case turned out to be a first aid kit, a highly specialised one and Jack, now standing, rifled through it quickly. "You know," he said to the unconscious form of their blue ranger, "I've seen you naked far too many times for someone I'm not actually sleeping with."

She snorted lightly and Jack spared her a quick grin before he returned his attention to Sky, the smile fading into a more serious expression. She didn't blame him. Nudity aside, Sky looked terrible. Thinner than usual, he'd obviously dropped a lot of weight over the few days he'd been in Gruumm's hands and she didn't even want to think about how he'd gotten the burns running down his back. His neck was burnt from where the silver collar had been and his wrists looked like they held burns as well, although maybe from restraints rather than silver in that case. Jack's concern was well justified.

After his brief ministrations were completed, Jack pulled out his communicator and flipped it open. "Kat, we've got a code 128 problem."

"Understood. Bring him back to base, we'll be ready."

"Okay, Landors out."

"Code 128?" she asked curiously and Jack gave her a surprised look.

"Yeah."

"What's it mean?"

"Wolf-related problems."

"Why 128?"

"Well, I should think that would be obvious."

Z stared at him, trying to work out what Jack was going on about. "That would be 'no'."

Jack sighed. "Sky has to Change once a month. He can do it whenever he likes but he has to once every month at full moon." He paused expectantly, obviously waiting for her to make the connection, which she couldn't and Jack rolled his eyes. "One month," he said pointedly. "Four weeks."

"Twenty eight days," Z said, comprehension slowly dawning. "Once every twenty eight days. 128." Now it made more sense.

"Right," Jack replied, finger flicking in her direction. "Now we just have to get him back to base."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Jack knocked carefully on the door. "Sky, you in there?"

The door had been locked and that usually meant that Sky had Changed. If there was one thing he knew about Sky, it was that his second in command was a creature of habit. Sky had his routines and he stuck to them. Usually, anyway. If the pattern held, Sky would be out running tonight, but after the events of the past week and a half, not to mention his still healing injuries, he might have changed his mind. In the infirmary for a couple of days, it had been long enough for it to be almost full moon time by the time he was released from Doctor Felix's care and that had made things both more complicated and less so. Jack hesitated, then stepped through the door. He'd done this a couple of times and Sky had never specifically told him _not_ to… if Sky wasn't there, he'd leave. If he was, so much the better.

"Sky?"

The room seemed to be empty, but the window was closed. Sky never closed the window when he went out, never. So that meant he should be here.

A moment later, Jack felt himself falling and landing hard on the floor, one blond wolf sitting on top of him. He waved slightly with his free hand, firmly repressing the automatic reaction brought on by this sudden experience of déjà vu. "Hi," he said easily and Sky stared at him before letting out the exasperated huff that was the wolf equivalent of Sky rolling his eyes and getting off him. Obviously _someone_ was feeling better. During his time in the infirmary Sky had done nothing but sleep and even after he'd left the infirmary he'd been more withdrawn than Jack had become accustomed to. It wasn't the standoffish arrogance that had marked the early days of B squad, that he could have dealt with, instead it seemed more like Sky was trying to avoid everyone and he got skittish if anyone but Jack got too close. He wished he could feel surprised by that, but he wasn't. It was just one more way his relationship with Sky was changing.

It was just fortunate that Gruumm was still dealing with the failure of his plans once again, because Sky had all but become a hermit, barely leaving his room if he didn't have to and not letting anyone in, with a couple of noticeable exceptions. Z had been in there once and had come out a little more relaxed. It seemed that the two of them had had a pretty serious conversation, with the result that whatever misunderstandings had existed between them had been fixed. She was the only person Sky had let in apart from Jack. Not even Bridge or Syd had been allowed in.

Sitting up, Jack made a show of brushing himself off, an action that seemed to amuse Sky for some reason, and he shifted so he was leaning against the wall. He'd learned the hard way not to stand while Sky was Changed and in his room: it was too much of a challenge. That wasn't why he was here though, so he causally leant back against the wall, arms resting on his knees. "So," he said. "How you doing?"

Sky gave him a long look, one that didn't need translating and Jack snorted slightly. "Right. Stupid question. You're always fine." He was more than aware of the brittle edge to his voice and he hoped that Sky hadn't picked up on it.

No such luck. Sky got up and padded over to where he was sitting, curling up next to him for a couple of minutes, before he changed his mind and moved so he was lying half on and half off of Jack's lap, much to the red ranger's surprise. His initial protests were ignored, which was _not_ a surprise, and in the end he resigned himself to the situation. Absently, he started scratching between Sky's ears, the tension he'd been feeling since Sky first disappeared finally easing.

* * *

Sky squirmed a little as he got comfortable on Jack's lap. This was nice. Jack was safe, as were the others, but Jack was sad. That was wrong, Jack shouldn't be sad. This was the only way he knew that could fix that, which was why he was currently trying to get comfortable in such a small amount of space. He sighed in contentment as Jack started scratching between his ears. This was _nice_. He let out a protesting whine when Jack stopped and insistently shoved his head against Jack's hand, a silent order to keep going. Jack laughed softly which was much better and _oh yes_, he thought as Jack resumed the petting, that felt _very_ nice. He felt his tail thump against the floor in pleasure as Jack dug his fingers in a little more, his short nails scraping lightly at his skin. _Mmm, more please._

He hadn't been aware of how much he had needed this after his latest ordeal, but now he was revelling in it, and he hoped Jack wouldn't stop any time soon. Clambering onto Jack's lap a little more, he was relieved when Jack's slight protest didn't result in him stopping and he settled down happily. He was home and he was safe.

* * *

Okay, this is the last chapter for this story, but the series itself isn't done yet. There's a couple more stories left before that happens.


End file.
